Absorbent articles, such as diapers and sanitary napkins, absorb and contain body exudates. They also are intended to prevent body exudates from soiling, wetting, or otherwise contaminating clothing or other articles, such as bedding, that come in contact with the wearer. A disposable absorbent article, such as a disposable diaper, may be worn for several hours in a dry state or in a urine-loaded state. Accordingly, efforts have been made toward improving the fit and comfort of the absorbent article to the wearer, both when the article is dry and when the article is fully or partially loaded with liquid exudate, while maintaining or enhancing the absorbing and containing functions of the article.
Efforts have also been made to make absorbent article thinner when dry, to improve the comfort of such articles.
Some absorbent articles, like diapers, contain absorbent material such as super absorbent polymers that absorbs very high quantities of liquid and causes the absorbent article to swell significantly. Such articles will thus increase significantly in volume during use, and sometimes in particular in the crotch area between the wearer's legs, which may render the article uncomfortable.
There may thus still be a need to further improve the performance/fit of such articles and/or the liquid transportation away from the crotch. There may also still be a need to further reduce the chance of leakage and to improve the efficiency of absorbency of an absorbent article, such as a diaper.
It has been found that improved liquid transportation can be achieved by the provision of transportation channels for distributing liquid in the absorbent article, e.g., the absorbent structure thereof. Furthermore, it has been found that improved fit can be obtained by providing absorbent articles with absorbent structures wherein the absorbent material is structured in longitudinal direction, optionally with areas that comprise less or no absorbent material, for improved bending flexibility in use (in the direction corresponding to the longitudinal direction (e.g., this may be the machine direction). The present disclosure provides an apparatus and method for providing such absorbent structures, and specific absorbent structures obtained thereby.